Orb, bred and owned by the Phipps and Janney families,
titans of American racing since the 1920s, was a deserving and
impressive winner of the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

That he was the benefactor of an ideal set-up, galloping
almost 20 lengths behind a torrid early pace that wiped out all
the frontrunners, is immaterial. He would have won regardless.
He was training better than his 18 rivals going into the Derby
and then ran better than them all en route to a 2 1/2-length
victory over the rain-soaked Churchill Downs track in
Louisville, Kentucky.

Orb, a long, lean colt with the royal pedigree typical of a
Phipps-Janney homebred, has the stamp of a horse that could
sweep the Triple Crown for the first time since 1978.

His trainer, Shug McGaughey, has been raving about how the
colt has been thriving for months, getting bigger, stronger and
faster week after week. McGaughey was oozing that same
confidence yesterday, telling reporters the horse was showing no
signs of fatigue following the Derby. Orb cut a picture of
perfect health, his bay coat glistening in the mid-afternoon
sun, as he returned to his barn yesterday at Belmont Park in
Long Island, New York.

Before the Belmont Stakes, though, comes the Preakness
Stakes in Baltimore on May 18.

Orb will be a prohibitive favorite in the Preakness.

Count on odds of about 4-5 (meaning you bet $5 for a chance
to win $4), down from the 5-1 he paid in the first leg of the
Triple Crown.

Claiborne Farm

The five Derby also-rans pointing to the Preakness look
overmatched. Orb beat those horses, including Goldencents and
Will Take Charge, by almost 20 lengths on average.

The biggest challenge that the Phipps and Janney clans --
both of which descend from Henry Phipps, the co-founder of
Carnegie Steel -- may face in the Preakness is from their own
business partners.

Claiborne Farm, which for decades has raised the two
families’ horses, including Orb, at its Paris, Kentucky-based
farm, is planning on running a colt by the name of Departing in
the Preakness.

Departing, who was held out of the Kentucky Derby, has won
four of five races, with his only blemish coming when he
encountered traffic trouble in the Louisiana Derby. He has all
the markings of a special horse in his own right.

Figure his odds will be about 7-2 in the Preakness.

It’s taken the Phipps and Janney families almost a century
to capture their first Kentucky Derby, a testament to why
winning the race is considered such a Holy Grail in the
thoroughbred industry. Now those from within their own inner
circle stand in the way as they pursue the Triple Crown.

The blue bloods meet the blue bloods in Baltimore.

(David Papadopoulos, the team leader for Latin America
markets coverage at Bloomberg News, has been following
thoroughbred racing for more than two decades and was runner-up
in 2008 Eclipse Award voting for feature writing on the sport.)